Is this money funny? Intro to section 2

Section two of the Open Money project argues that digital money is an evolution of currency rather than "funny money," and that Open Money is a natural next step. The article acknowledges that crypto's speculative culture, including hype around memecoins, fuels the perception of it as a scam or casino, but it contends that dismissing the underlying shift risks missing its opportunities. It frames boom-bust cycles as a historical feature of technology adoption, and traces money's progression from barter to coins, paper currency and digital banking. It describes Open Money as using decentralized networks to create programmable, borderless and censorship-resistant financial systems.